Eyes Like Yours
by EdwardWongHauPepiluTivriskyIV
Summary: Four years post Bebop. Faye has to raise her child in the world of bounty hunters and being bounty hunted. When times get hard Faye turns to an old friend and then events take a turn for the worst. rr don't knock it until you've read it.
1. Reunited

It was a very cold night. Temperatures were in the teens. In a small apartment building sat a woman with long purple hair. She sat on an old couch that was sagging and dumpy. Next to her was a girl that looked about fours years. The girl also had purple hair and was watching TV next to the older woman. The little girl wore green fleece pajama pants and with a matching shirt.. The woman wore plad pajama pants and a black tank top. Both also wore blue bathrobes. The little girl had Purple hair and her eyes were crimson red. You could probally say that they were mother and daughter. The purple haired woman put her head in her hands and the little girl noticed because she came over to her.

"Mommy, why are you crying again?" questioned the little girl.

"I'm not crying, mommy was just thinking," Faye said.

"What are you thinking of?" questioned the little girl.

Faye smiled a fake smile. "Little Edea you ask too many questions. Now its eight o clock, you know what that means." Edea just gave an adorable smile. "That means its time to go to bed."

"Ok," said little Edea as she ran out of the living room and then back. "I want to show you something first."

"What do you want to-" Faye stopped when she saw what her daughter had in her hand. "Where did you find this?" Faye expressed signs of anger and surprise. Edea saw that her mom looked mad.

"Sorry mommy," little Edea apologized.

"Where did you find this?" her mother repeated.

"Wanna see," Edea went over and grabbed her moms hand. Faye just snached the object.

"Just go to bed," Faye commanded gently.

"Sorry mommy," Edea pouted. She was about to cry.

"Come here." Faye gave her daughter a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Now go to bed.

"Goodnight mommy," Edea walked to her bedroom. In the apartment there was only one small bedroom, a kitchen and a livingroom. It was sort of like a studio.

When Edea was gone, Faye again looked at the object her daghter had found. It was her old communicator that she used when she was living on board the bebop.

"This part of my life is over," thought Faye. She kept the communicator in a bag with a few other things like some extra money, a change of clothes for her and her daughter and a few other things. Faye had that because she was still wanted and once in a while bounty hunters would try to turn her in. With her new life, she also used a ficticious name to get around. The name was Mariah Jet. Some knew Mariah was Faye Valentine because of similarities in bouty posters, while others knew her by some of the bounties she caught and crimes she committed to get some money for her and her child to live. Life on the run was difficut and a lot of the time she would have to leave wherever she was living and start anew somewhere else. Her ship was still hers though.

The communicator was at the bottom of her bag because Faye never wanted to use it, but also couldn't part with it. The last time she was on Bebop, Edward had left, Spike went off to get himself killed and Jet... she knew he wasn't going anywhere, but the sight of the Bebop with no one around and the depression in the air was just too much for her so she just left.

Faye was about to throw the communicator against the wall, but the sound would just wake up Edea, so Faye just got up to put it back in its original spot. Before she got up, curiosity got the best of her and she turned it on. Surprisingly, it still worked. She faced it away from her so whoever popped up on it wouldn't see her face.

"Hey," said Jet. Faye was speechless. She thought no one was going to answer. "Hello?" questioned Jet. Faye decided to say something.

"Hey..." Faye said reluctantly. Jet was drinking coffee and spit it right out.

"Faye, is that you?" Just then Edea came back into the livingroom.

"Mommy who are you talking to?" she questioned. She came up to Faye and the communicator. "Hey mommy, thats the guy from the picture."

"Hi, I'm Uncle Jet," Jet smiled to Edea.

"Hi Uncle Jet," said Edea, before running off back to bed.

"Faye?" questioned Jet again.

"Its me," said Faye. Just then a loud bang sounded from outside Fayes apartment. There were five gunshots.

"Whats going on there Faye!" yelled Jet.

"I have to go!" Faye yelled back as she ran to the bedroom.

"Tell me where you are!" Jet continued to yell.

"No Jet, I don't nee-"

"Your going to get your a killed! Now tell me--" Two men came in the house and kept firing. Faye scooped up her daughter and her blanket, got her bag and continued to run.

"I'm on Mars, near this bar-- Faye ran outside to where she hid her ship in a junkyard next door to the apartments. --called Blue Storm Ni--" Faye cut off short as a shot was heard in the distance and something was felt in Faye's left arm. She had been shot in the arm. Faye fell to the ground with Edea in her hands. Her arm was bleeding very badly as she felt it become numb. She knew she couldn't go on, so she protected Edea by covering her, with her body and passed out in the now snowing very cold night...

"Ow..." groaned Faye as she slowly opened her eyes. At first it was hard to focus and very blurry. Then after a moment, Faye was finally able to focus. She looked around and found herself in a bedroom. There was the bed she was lying in with a blue, black and white comforter above about five more blankets. There was a chestnut dresser and beige walls. Faye suddenly sat up, but big mistake, as she felt a surge of pain through her left arm. She let out a little yell and fell back down. Jet must have heard because he walked into the room. At first he did not say anything, just looked at her. Faye turned her head so that she was facing the opposite wall. Just then she remembered Edea. Faye tried to quickly sit up again, but fell back down with another yell.

"You might not want to do that again, that bullet pierced your arm pretty badly. As for Edea, shes off somewhere around here playing with Edward," Jet replied.

"Eds back here?" Faye questioned.

"She came back two weeks after you left, crying and with Ein, said something like her father did not care about her and I took her and Ein back."

"What about him?" questioned Faye.

"Who?" questioned Jet.

"Him," said Faye again.

"Can't you just say his name."

"No."

"He is here too, but not here right now." Faye turned to look at the wall again. Jet decided to change the subject.

"So whos the kid?" he questioned.

"My kid," she said. Edea came into the room. She ran up to her mother, gave her a hug and started crying. Faye winced because she was still in pain, but tried to hug her daughter back.

"Mommy, I was so worried bout you, you fall and then don..." Edea started crying harder.

"Its ok, mommys alright," Faye reassured.

"Jet what happened?" questioned Faye. He began to tell the story:

--------

"Well, I was on my communicator with Spike as he was about to go catch a bounty and I was just about to shut my communicator off when you appeared on. I couldn't believe it was you. Anyway, when you told me the name of the bar I recognized where you were right away because I used to go there and when you all of a sudden stopped in your sentence, I knew something was wrong so I came to get you. When I found the place, there were three guys around, so I had to take them out and that was when I found you. There was blood and Edea was crying. You and her were very cold, and that was when I noticed a puddle of blood and saw the wound. So I got you and Edea into my ship and took you to the Bebop. When I got to the ship, Edea was asleep and you were starting shaking, I quickly had to get that bullet out, so I did it. I had prior experience a while ago, so I sort of knew what I was doing. I had a little bit of help from Ed though."

------

"You were very cold though, so I gave you all of my blankets and this is my bed," finished Jet. Faye turned to look at Jet. He had a calm expression on his face. Faye sat up very slowly, even though there was pain she forced herself up. By now Edea left the room.

"I got to get out of here," said Faye.

"Spikes not here," said Jet.

"So, I can't stay here."

"You can stay here as long as you like," offered Jet.

"I can't," said Faye as she this time tried to stand up slowly.

"Your in no condition," said Jet.

"I'm fine," said Faye as she took a step foward. Jet slapped her wound with his hand. An aganizing pain shot through Faye as she fell foward. Jet caught her as laid her back on the bed. She closed her eyes. "Why me?" questioned Faye as she sobbed. Jet covered her with all of the blankets.

"Get some rest," commanded Jet as he shut the light off and closed the door behind him. Faye must have been tired because she asleep right away.

"Jet, how is Faye-Faye?" questioned Edward. Edward is about 17 years old now. Her hair grew out a little and was about 5'2 now. Wearing a pair of baggy black sweatpants and white tank top, the computer hacker slid onto the couch with her arm hanging off.

"Shes ok, just needs her rest right now," assured Jet.

"Kids out like a light on the couch," said Ed.

"Take her to your room and cover her up."

"Alright," Edward picked up Edea from the armchair and carried her to her room. Jet sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Big shot was on.

"Hey all you 300,000 Bounty Hunters out there, how ya'll doing," rang the TV. "Its time for big shot. Today on the show we again bring you Mariah Jet." They showed a picture that looked like Faye Valentine.

"That couldn't be," said Jet to himself.

"Who ya talkin to?" questioned Edward as she entered the room. "Hey that looks like Faye-Faye."

"That is her," said Jet.

"Shes using your name in hers," said Ed.

"She was last spotted on Mars and new bounty is yet to be determined." said Punch on TV.

"Think you could find some information on Mariah Jet?" Jet questioned. Since Edwards father left her, Jet has become sort of like a father figure to her.

"You know I could," said Edward as she went to her computer on the floor and started typing.

----------------

Well thats it for now, I'm going to bed. Tell me what you think. Please don't just come and go...


	2. Bountyhead

"Got it!" shouted Edward as she rolled over backwards and started walking on her hands, no socks on her feet.

"What's it say?" questioned Jet as he went over to her computer on the floor. Ed regained her composure and sat back down, while Jet bent down to his knees and read the information from the computer. "It says here that Maria Jet is wanted for robbery and theft. Well, that's petty. Why would they want her so bad just for that?"

"Keep reading," commanded Edward, pushing back her now longer, red hair from her face.

"She was also spotted stealing drugs, which is not like her," Jet replied to the later information.

"Maybe they added the drug part in to make it interesting. It doesn't say anything about how much the bounty is though," Ed replied. They then scanned the screen for one last time. "Maybe this has been added recently.

"See if you can find a bounty for her head. It can't be anything small if a lot of people are out there looking for her," requested Jet, straightening up and heading to the kitchen.

"Ed's on it!" shouted Edward as she rolled onto her hands for a second time and started typing on her feet.

"I don't know how you do it," said Jet referring to her typing with her feet. Jet went into the kitchen part of the ship. He got a can of dog food and Ein came skittering in. He put the food in a dish and put it on the floor. Ein started eating. He looked just as he did four years ago, just a bit on the heavy side. Just then Jet's communicator went off.

"Hey Jet," greeted Spike.

"What's the bad news now?" greeted Jet in return.

"Have you heard about the bounty Mariah Jet? I heard about it from this guy at Blue Storm Night; said something about Mariah's bounty nearby, so I went in search, only to find some other people out in search too. Some of them started shooting up the place she was supposedly in. After a while I got sick of it so I sent off a shot in the distance and left," told Spike. Jet was silent.

"You still there Jet?" questioned Spike.

"Yeah, what about that other bounty you went off for?"

"Done," replied Spike. "I'll be back in a couple of hours," and with that Spike signed off his communicator.

'Shit,' Jet muttered. Ein looked up at his owner, and then returned his attention to his bowl.

"Got it!" shouted Edward from the other room. Jet sighed and walked back to the living room.

"So how much is the bounty?" Jet questioned, squatting back down to look at the screen with many small windows littering it.

"Says here about 1,000,000 has been issued for her turn in," said Edward. "Poor Faye-Faye."

"Got some bad news Ed," Jet sighed as he lay down on the yellow couch. Putting his hands behind his head, he closed his eyes.

"What's wrong?" questioned Edward as she placed her goggles on top of her head and looked over at the stressed man.

"You can't tell Spike, got it?" warned Jet.

"Sure-sure Ed won't tell, what did Jet do?" she questioned.

"Spike shot Faye," Jet simply said glumly.

"What!" yelled Edward as she fell onto her stomach.

"Just got done talking to him on the communicator and he told a similar story to what happened where Faye was," Jet told.

"I'll kill him!" yelled Ed as she jumped on to her feet and gave the most sinister glare. Jet was surprised. He has never seen Edward like that before.

"Calm down Ed," said Jet.

"He tried to kill Faye-Faye!" Edward said though gritted teeth.

"He didn't know," assured Jet.

"So then what did he say about Faye-Faye?"

"He doesn't know," repeated Jet.

"Then what he say?" questioned Edward like she was about to jumped on someone and beat them.

"He heard about the Mariah bounty from some guy in the bar and went to go catch her. When he got there, there were already a couple of people looking for her. He said they were shooting up some apartment. He was getting mad at them for carelessly shooting up the building so he fired a shot in the distance to shut them up and didn't know that he shot someone, in this case Faye." After Jet told the story, Edward didn't know what to say. "It wasn't really his fault," Jet said again.

"So when are you going to tell him?" questioned Edward.

"When he figures out Faye is Mariah," said Jet.

"What about when he gets back here?"

"He'll just have to figure it out for himself. What time is it Ed?" Jet said after he closed his eyes.

"It's about 12:22," Edward said. "Where are you gonna sleep?"

"Right here." Jet simply said. Edward sat down on the floor next to the couch.

"Do you think Edea is Spikes daughter?" questioned Edward out of the blue.

"Probably, she has his red eyes," said Jet.

"Really, I didn't notice," said Edward. She then walked out of the room. She went to her room. When she opened the door Edea was sitting on Edward's bed hugging a medium sized brown teddy bear.

"What's wrong there little Edea Weda," said Edward as she dived on her bed next to Edea.

"I hope my mommy's ok," said Edea looking up at Edward.

"She is," assured Edward. Then Edward got up. "You want anything, food, water, blankets?"

"Can I have a drink of water?" asked Edea.

"Sure! Ed'll be right back," and with that Edward went to get her water. When she came back, Ein trotted in behind her and sat on the bed next to Edea. Edea gave him a quick pet. Edward asked again.

"Is there anything else you need before I go?" Edward questioned.

"You're not going to stay here?" questioned Edea, moving the soft bear to her other side as Ein stretched out and curled up at her side.

"If you want me to I'll stay here," and with that she again dived onto the bed.

"Where else do you sleep?"

"Everywhere," Edward chimed, covering up Edea with an afghan in many shades of blue.

"Is this your bear?" Edea questioned, grabbing the teddy bear from her side and showing it to Edward.

"Yep, Ed got him at a carnival on Earth."

After a little while, Edea fell asleep and Edward did too. Edward was a very light sleeper. Two hours later she woke up when she heard someone coming on to the ship.

"Oh boy..." she thought as she got up and left the room.


	3. Offense

Edward walked through the dark kitchen and peered into the living room. She saw that Jet was still on the couch and that Spike was walking through the door. He looked a bit druck as he stumbled a few times, walking through the ship to the kitchen. He did not acknowledge Jet. Anger clentched Edward as she glared at Spike. Just as Spike walked to the kitchen-

"What the hell!" yelled Spike as he was tackled to the floor unexpectedly. Since he had quite a bit to drink, he was caught off guard in the dark ship. Edward started pounding Spike with her fists. When Spike caught realization, he grabbed Edward and threw her off of him. "What is wrong with you?" he yelled. He and Edward got up.

"You-!" growled Edward through gritted teeth. She walked away to her room. It was very early and quiet. Spike turned on the light to the kitchen and proceeded to make his special concoction to manage hangovers.

Jet woke up and saw that the light was on in the kitchen, so he got up and went to see Spike, knowing he would be the only one in there at this time.

"Hey Spike," Jet muttered as he entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. Spike had his head down on the table. He slowly lifted his head up.

"Hey," said Spike as he looked up at Jet. He looked like he was having a hangover already. Spike reached into his pocket and took out the bounty of about 600,000. "Bounty was one of the weakest ones I have ever seen. It took longer to turn him in."

"Told you it would easy" said Jet. Jet got up to make himself some coffee. After putting the coffee maker on, he got a mug from the cabinet. He didn't know how to approach the situation that was Faye, so he would wait to see if Spike brought it up first and work on it from there.

"You find anything else on Mariah yet?" questioned Spike, as if he had read Jet's thoughts, as he put his head back down. He had a headache. Seeing him in his state, Jet was hoping Spike would not have much interest and just leave it at that for now.

Trying not to be obvious, Jet just replied,"Nothing yet." Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he sat at the table. Edward walked into the kitchen. She saw Spike with his head down and Jet drinking distractedly from his mug. Jet noticed her and gave a look that said, 'Don't say anything.' Edward took a seat at the table. Spike put his head up when he felt Edward's presence.

Again he questioned, "What's wrong with you?" She ignored him. Jet mouthed to Edward 'go change' and then put a hand on his left arm. Edward got up quickly and went to Jet's room to check on Faye. Spike got up and went to his room a minute later and Jet put his cup in the sink, turned off the light and went back to his makeshift "bed" in the living room.

When Edward walked into Jet's room, Faye was sleeping. Edward proceeded to change the bandages on her wound as quietly and gently as possibe. Faye woke up when Edward was cleaning up her wound. She looked at Edward and remembered where she was. Edward looked troubled as she finished up.

"Are you Okay Faye-Faye?" she questioned sadly, cleaning up the first aid kit and soiled bandages.

"Yeah Ed, I'm fine" she said assuringly. Edward gave her a gentle hug. Faye noticed her troubled expression. "What's wrong Ed?"

"He's here..." Edward sighed, looking at her work.

"Oh..." Faye said softly. "Does he know I'm here? Does he know about Edea?"

"He doesn't know about either one of you," Ed assured. Edward had a strong urge to blurt out that Spike was the one who shot her, but she bit her tongue. "Ow."

"What?" said Faye.

"Nothing" said Ed. Faye dozed off, so Edward shut the light off, closed the door lightly and left. When she went back to her room she saw Ein was still on her bed next to Edea. He was curled up near her feet now. Edward went back to her spot from before and went back to sleep.

"Mommy!" yelled Edea as she looked around in the dark kitchen. "Mommy" she yelled again. She saw a room and opened the door. Inside she saw a man with fuzzy hair sprawled out on the bed, right on top of the covers, sleeping. He snored loudly. She went up to him and tapped him on the cheek. Spike opened his eyes slowly and groaned. When he was able to focus his vision, he saw a little girl staring at him.

"Hello mister," she said. "Do you know where my mommy is?"

"What?" he questioned rubbing his left eye.

"I want my mommy. I got to go to the bathroom," Edea whined, hoping to make it to the bathroom very soon.

"Who are you?" questioned Spike, not moving, but staring at the small child. He was not in the mood for anything.

"My name is Edea and I'm four years old" said Edea confidently.

"Are you related to Jet?" questioned Spike.

"What?" said little Edea.

"Nevermind," Spike tiredly got up and walked out of the room with little Edea following behind.

"My mom's other name is Jet," Edea conceded, thinking Spike was leading her to the toilet.

"What?" questioned Spike.

"She said that came after Mariah." The bounty he was currently hunting flashed through his mind after Edea said the name Mariah Jet.

Spike walked up to the door to Jets room and knocked three times. No answer. He knocked a little harder.

"Come in," said a feminine voice. Spikes eyes widened.

"Mommy!'' yelled Edea as she pushed open the door. When Edea opened the door, Faye came face to face with no other than Spike. She gasped and then glared at him. Edea jumped on the bed.

"Mommy, who's that guy" said Edea, pointing to Spike. Faye then looked away. "I don't know who that is! What's wrong hun" she questioned her daughter.

"I have to go bathroom!" said Edea, gritting her teeth.

"Why didn't you go ask Edward to take you," Faye replied. Spike continued to stand in the doorway, only he was a little perplexed as to what was happening.

"She is sleeping."

"Well go wake her up and tell her to take you. Momma still can't get up."

"Alright" said Edea as she jumped off the bed and ran back to Edward's room. On the way out, she "bumped" into Spike. When she was gone, Faye looked up at Spike with a glare. Spike walked in the room and leaned against the wall.

"Get out."

"No."

"I said leave"

"No,... Mariah."


	4. Remember

"Get out."

"No."

"I said leave"

"No,... Mariah."

Faye gasped. How did he know her alias name? Wasn't he supposed to be dead? All the memories of their times together four years ago came flooding back.

"What do you want?" Faye questioned angrily.

With a smug look on his face, Spike replied, "Bounty for Mariah Jets about one million. I was just looking for her about not too long ago. Someone shot up the place though. Thought someone had killed her, so I left."

Faye's eyes went wide. Did he see who had almost killed her? "Is this what you want to see! She yelled pulling the blankets off of her, exposing a bandaged wound. Spike was at a loss for words. He had been there the entire time, but had not known he was very close to Faye. When those bounty hunters shot up the apartment building, no one had suspected anyone to have come out alive.

"Who did that to you!" shouted Spike.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I was there!"

"Then you would have seen them."

"I was outside of the place."

"So was I. I made it out and was about to get to my ship, when I got f shot. I didn't even see anyone. The only thought in my head was if my child got..." Faye closed her eyes as the tears streamed down.

Spike walked over to the bed and sat down. Running a hand through his hair, he muttered, "You were near the junkyard."

"Yeah why?"

"I fired a shot near ther-"

"YOU SHOT ME?" yelled Faye Valentine. Both anger and shock flashed through her mind.

"I sent a shot in the distance because those idiots kept shooting up the pl-"

"GET THE HELL OUT! SO HELP ME IF YOU GO NEAR MY DAUGHTER I WILL KI-" Faye tried to stand up quickly, but a blast of pain shot through her body, so she lay back down. "Why the fuck, out of all the people, you-"

"IF I WOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WERE IN THERE, I WOULD HAVE SAVED YOUR ASS! BUT NO MISS HIGH AND MIGHTY HAS TO DROP OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH SO NOBODY KNOWS WHO AND WHERE THE HELL SHE IS!" yelled Spike walking out of the room and slamming the door. Faye started sobbing.

It was about noontime when Faye got up to see what was going on. It took a little time, but she got out of bed and started walking. The bebop was very quiet. Edea was in the "kitchen" with Edward. They were both eating sandwiches.

"Hey mommy, Edward made me a sandwich," chirped Edea.

"That's nice," said Faye. Faye looked at Edward and saw the same look she gave her the previous night.

"What's wrong Ed?" questioned Faye again.

"Nothing," said Edward trying to fake a smile.

"Hey Ed, where's Jet?"

"Uhh...Jet went out looking for a bounty," replied Edward.

"Oh. Hey Ed, when did Spike come back?"

"Well," Edward thought for a moment, "Spike came back about three weeks after Ed returned. Ed came back two weeks after the time Ed left. When Spike-person came back, he was messed up badly. Jet-person and Ed cleaned up Spike. It was yucky." Edward was silent for a moment. "Where did you go?"

"I left here because I couldn't take it; with you gone and that lunk-head gone off to kill himself, it got really lonely and depressing. I knew it would hurt to say goodbye to Jet, so I didn't. I even missed Ian." Just then, Ian came into the kitchen and sat at Edward's feet. She put a piece of her sandwich down and Ian ate it.

"Didn't Faye-Faye always fight with Spike?"

"It was some sort of communication."

"But why leave?" questioned Ed.

"I felt I had to leave and be on my own. I had been on my own for a majority of my life so I knew how to handle it. It did get pretty lonely though. I was then one-and-a-half months pre-" she cut herself off.

"gnant." Ed finished. "Jet knew that Faye-Faye was pregnant because Faye-Faye kept throwing up and eating ice cream with pickles. Ed found that nasty, but just thought Faye-Faye was weird. Jet told Ed Faye-Faye was pregnant. How come you didn't come back?"

"I couldn't. I don't know. I tried to move on..."

"When Ed came back, Jet welcomed Ed with open arms. Jet was glad to have Ed back. Ed's dad didn't want her. He was only worried about his business. That really hurt. Jet has been like a father to Ed. Jet would've welcomed Faye-Faye back." Faye put her arms on the table and set her head down. "Ed tried to track down Faye, but it was like Faye disappeared into thin air."

"Mommy," questioned Edea. Faye put her head up.

"Hmm," Faye responded.

"Can I watch T.V.?"

"Ok, come on, I'll show you where it is." Little Edea followed Faye into the "living room." After settling Edea with a very old cartoon from Earth, Faye took a walk.

'Wonder what my old room looks like,' she wondered. It did. The room was empty of any personal possessions; only things left were a bare bed, nightstand, and dresser. The room was clean though.

"Jet left it that way so in case Faye-Faye decided to come back," came a voice from behind. Tears, from nowhere, started to stream from Faye's eyes. Edward embraced her with a few tears of her own.

It was around 5:00 P.M. when Jet returned. Expressions of Frustration and anger shown through his wary features. Faye was standing on the deck looking at the stars, so Jet walked up to her.

"You all right?" he questioned concernedly.

"I guess. Hey Jet?"

"Hmm."

"You knew I was pregnant, didn't you?"

"Well pickles and ice cream together is kind of a sign of something." Jet laughed.

"Now that I think of it, ewww," Faye laughed.

"She has Spike's eyes," stated Jet.

"She's his," muttered Faye looking out at the stars. Turning and looking Jet square in the eye Faye said desperately, "I thought it was going to be different. He told me he wanted to be with me. Then he goes off to "find his past" and gets himself killed; or so I thought. When he leaves I so happen to find out I'm pregnant and then what? Ed left and it was only me and you. I didn't want to burden you with my problems so I left."

"I told you, you could have come back," Jet reassured.

"I couldn't, I dug myself deeper with my alias Mariah Jet. Then I go and get my ass shot by that lunkhead."

"Did you say Spike shot you?"

"Yeah, he told me it was an "accident'' and he didn't know I was there," she uttered venomously.

"Well, nobody knew you were there."

"I just didn't know then and there what was going to happen to my daughter," Faye looked on the verge of tears, but kept them at bay.

"Glad I found you when I did, otherwise you would have died."

"Jet, I don't want to live like this anymore; wondering everyday if my child and I will survive it, or if I get caught on bounty!" yelled Faye...


	5. Childtalk

It was about 2:08 A.M. Little Edea had to use the bathroom again so she got up and left the room this time knowing where the bathroom was. Jet had insisted that Faye stay in his room for another night, but then had to put some sheets on her bed and her and her daughter were to sleep in her room. Little Edea accompanied Faye with quite a few warm blankets in the warm bed. In the corner of the room sat a bag that she had escaped with; Jet must have known that it was Faye's, even though they were near a junkyard. Faye had changed Edea's and her clothes. Faye now wore a pair of grey heather sweatpants and a long-sleeved white shirt and Edea wore a long-sleeved black shirt and lilac pajama pants.

After using the bathroom, Edea noticed someone in the kitchen. Being four years old, she went to see who it was. Creeping quietly, she looked into the kitchen. In the kitchen, Spike was sitting at the table eating what seemed to be chinese food. Only a small light illuminated part of the kitchen leaving the other half dark.

"Your a bad person," came a voice from the shadows. Spike looked around for the source of the statement.

"Eda?" questioned Spike.

"My name is Edea," corrected Edea stepping out of the shadows and sitting at the table. "Your a bad person," she repeated. Spike was not a big fan of kids, but decided to play Edea's game.

"Why am I a bad person?" he questioned the little girl.

"You were yelling at my mommy."

"Well your mother is dense."

"Don't say that about my mommy!" she shouted even though she had no idea what the word meant, but judging by the contex he used it in, it must've been bad. Yelling at him, she sure did eye the food he was eating.

Spike slid one carton of noodles over to Edea and she instantly opened it up and stuck her hand inside, bringing a clump of noodles out and shoved it into her mouth getting noodles everywhere. With her mouthful she suddenly said, "Hey runkhead?"

"What did you call me?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow; fork halfway to his mouth which went back into the carton.

"My mommy said that was your name because you have funny hair," she said dropping a whole handful of noodles on the ground.

"I'm not cleaning that up," replied Spike simply, looking at the mess. Edea then got down on the floor and scooped up the noodles and put them on the table, still leaving a mess on the ground. She then proceeded to put them into her mouth--.

"Don't eat those off the floor!" yelled Spike. Edea jumped and dropped the noodles onto the table. Spike just watched her; there was no way he was going to play babysitter and clean up after a four year old. When little Edea glanced up at Spike, he noticed her red eyes. Both resembled a dark crimson shade that were all too familiar.

'No,' he thought to himself, 'No, no, no.'

"Edea?" 

"What?" 

"How did you know I was the one your mother called a lunkhead?" he questioned the small child who continued to eat the noodles out of the carton with her fingers.

"From the picture!" replied Edea.

"Wheres your father?"

"You!" she shreiked then ran off to bed.

Spike was stunned. That could not have been his child. He doesn't have any children. He hates kids. Even though the little girl had the same color hair as her mother, the eyes were wore a striking resemblence to his own.

'No,' Spike thought to himself. 'She four and calls Jet Uncle. Its just a coincidence...' he thought unsurely.

The next morning, Faye woke up to little Edea asleep at her side. The clock read that it was to early to get up. Sitting up, Faye slowly got out of bed and set Edea in the middle, covering her up with all the blankets. 'Must be nice to be able sleep without a care,' she thought to herself, kissing her daughters forehead and leaving the room. 

In the kitchen there was a mess of chinese food cartons and noodles on the table. 'Slobs,' she thought to herself taking an apple out of the fridge and sat at a clean part of the table and ate uncaringly. Light clicking could be heard in the livingroom and assumed Edward was typing away on her computer. Edward had always used to sleep and type away on her computer at the most unusual times.

"Oooh," came a voice from the livingroom. Edward did a backroll and started walking on her hands. "Ed does it again," she replied in a sing-song tone. Some people never change.

"Ed go to bed," grumbled Jet half asleep. Once again, Jet had taken the couch, when he offered Faye his bed. The yellow sofa was not very comfortable, so every once in a while Jet would turn over, adjust his pillow or change positions.

"Eds got more info on Faye Faye."

"Whats it say?" questioned Jet sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Dropping the apple she was eating, Faye ducked into the shadows near the livingroom and listened silently. Edward had heard the noise, but had passed it off as Ein running around or something.

"Says here Mariah Jet was last seen on Mars in an apartment building in the Teryion area," read Edward still on her hands.

"Thats where I found her,"replied Jet. A sudden beep sounded from Edward's computer and several smaller screens popped up through her cyber space network. Falling onto her stomach gracefully, she read the information softly.

"New data, New data. Says here that Mariah Jet is the infamous Faye Valen..." her sentence fell apart. She looked up at Jet who came over to the computer.

"Well the picture of Mariah Jet and Faye Valentine are almost identical. Maybe someone finally figured that out," grumbled Jet. "Anything else interesting?"

"Not good. Not good. Since Faye Faye is Mariah Jet, the two bounties are comined and bunked to 10,500,000!" said Edward a little too loudly. The hacker then covered her mouth. A audible gasp was heard in the shadows. Edward and Jet heard and looked up as Faye walked into the room with an expression mixed of disbelief and fury.

"Great, just fuckin great!" she yelled hysterically, taking all the information that was just overheard. That was a lot for one to take in. Knowing your two identities and raising the bounty on your head made the chances of catching her even higher. Now the ones who knew of her ship would be sure to see it in the sky and would shoot it down. That reminded her that her ship was still in the junkyard on Mars and double thought about its fate. All the pressure got to her and she stormed out of the room and back into her room where Edea was still sleeping, except she had popped her thumb into her mouth and in her sleep sucked on it. Neither Jet nor Edward decided to follow her and see if she was alright. They would wait until she was ready to talk and would then take a course of action. No one at that point was sure of what to do.

The apple, where Faye had dropped it layed forgotten on the ground already rotting.  
Careful not to put any pressure on her injuries she once again lied down and cuddled up with her daughter who knew nothing of her pain; knew nothing of her worry and definately didn't know of all her mother's worry for her safe keeping.

Sometimes when she lied awake at night, back when she was on the run she'd watch her daughter sleep, she sometimes thought of leaving her at the place she once considered home; the home of The Bebop of course and going after everyone who was after her, or just hated her. She would go after them and get them before they came after her and her daughter and sometimes didn't care if they got her as long as her daughter was safe. Those thoughts would disipate as she then thought of the burden she would have imposed on Jet and of her trying to make it on her own. Faye didn't know at the time Edward and Spike had returned. Also, leaving her daughter was just something she couldn't do. It was her and Edea against the world. In one part of her mind, she wondered how she was going to explain to Edea about her father. At the time, Spike was supposedly dead, so Edea would never have known her father. 

Her daughter. Their daughter. It was strange how she never thought that it would happen and it did.  
000000000000000000 

(Four years ago)

On the downtime on the Bebop; no bounties, no money, no hot water, Faye and Spike would find a way to get at each others throats. Sometimes, arguements would be funny because of the pointlessness, others would be interesting due to stinging insults thrown at one another. Others would be just get on Jets nerves and he would then have to step in.

Faye was currently sitting on the stairs reading a fashion magazine called Shimmer, Edward was typing away on her computer and Spike was sprawled out on the yellow sofa with a magazine over his face.

"Ohhh, whats that?" questioned Edward, startling Faye as she appeared to the side of her; walking on her hands. The hacker then sat next to Faye and mimicked her pose.

"Thats an ad for green eye cream its supposed to make your eyes bright and bold," Faye explained to the awed kid.

"Its so sparkly," she exclained, "You should get it Faye Faye!" With the exclaim she jumped on her hands again and began walking.

"No Ed, thats not true," Spike said, "Its only for pretty girls." Apparently Spike was up.

"What that supposed to mean!" yelled Faye. Spike said nothing and pretended to be asleep.

"Lunkhead!" she growled rolling up the magazine, proceeded to hit him on the head.

"What the-" replied Spike removing the magazine and looking up at the eyes of an angry woman who then stormed away.

"I'm leaving!" she yelled.

"Hope your not going shopping!" yelled Spike, replacing the magazine over his face...

000000000000000000 

She usually fell asleep by the time this thought had surfaced in her brain and continuous dreams of people chasing after her yelling 'Get her, get her' with her running for her life with a bag that contained her daughter.

Little Edea woke up again a little while later and curled up against her mom until she smelled something coming from somewhere out in the ship. She dragged herself out of the room and followed the smell until she came upon the kitchen where 'Uncle Jet' was cooking something delicious.

Standing next to him watching, Edea didn't say anything.

"Is your mom still sleeping?" Jet questioned.

"Uh huh, before she was yelling, 'get away or i'll shoot,' and breathing hard," she told her 'Uncle.'

"Is she alright?" questioned a concerned Jet, scrambling eggs.

"Shes ok. I used to shake her when she yelled, and she would scream so I stopped." Edea could talk a lot for someone four years old. It sounded as if she was having frequent nightmares, Jet assumed.

A loud scream came from the bedroom and Jet turned off the pilot light he was cooking with and went to see what he could do to make her stop screaming.

-----------

Yay another chappie done. This chapter was cowritten by me and Mariah2 and dedicated to all who go back to school on Wednesday.


	6. Thoughts

"You will not take me in!" yelled a hysterical Faye Valentine, holding up her gun with a trembling hand, a silver bracelet jiggling slightly. "My bounty or your life; I will kill you!" Just then Jet and Edea burst into the room, seeing Spike against the wall and Faye with her gun pointed at him. Spike showed no sense of fear though, for he was familiar with the scene in the past.

"Mommy what are you doing?!" cried a scared Edea, running up to her mother and wrapping her arms around her waist, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Spike what are you doing?" questioned Jet walking over to the scene.

"I was just seeing if she was alright, and shes over here telling me I will die before I turn her in," said a now slightly uneasy Spike.

"She must think your a bounty hunter she once faced," replied Jet. Faye let out a shot, missing Spike by six inches and hit the left side of the doorway leaving a quarter-sized hole. After firing the shot, Jet grabbed her hand and took the gun; noticing Faye was sweating profusely and looked dazed. Not being able to decifer Spike from another bounty hunter, there was definately something wrong. Jet reached out and put his hand on her forehead, noticing it was burning up.

"Don't take my daughter!" yelled Faye, hugging Edea tightly, tears also streaming down her eyes.

"She has a fever and must be delirious," Jet diagnosed, pushing Faye to a laying position, only to have her struggle to stay in an upright position. "Faye, none of this is true, your only hallucinating."

"Jet, you were on my side! How could you... how could you betray me like this!" Littlie Edea stayed glued to her mother's side not saying a word but only sobbing. Finally, Faye collapsed, letting go of Edea. Spike ran over to Faye not really sure what to think. He was very close to having his head shot off by a delusional woman. The thing is, she thought he was one of the bounty hunters she must've faced in the past. What if she was thinking of the incident between her and him on Mars. It was an accident after all,... he wished he could believe.

Jet called Edward into the room and told her to take little Edea out of the room. Edward picked up little Edea and with much struggle from the screaming girl, took her to another part of the ship.

After a few minutes, Jet and Spike left the room, Jet still holding onto Faye's gun.

--

"Its not so hard," assured Edward happily, showing Edea how to walk on her hands, her gray pajama pants sliding up revealing two thin ankles. Clad in gray pajama pants and a red tank top, it seemed like it was still early morning. Kind of hard to know when traveling through space, so they relied on clocks to know the time of day.

"I can't do that Auntie Edward," complained little Edea watching in awe, Ein sitting in the corner watching the scene.

At the sound of that, Edward landed upright saying, "Auntie Edward, Ed likes the sound of that. Auntie Edward will teach little Edea how to do a handstand in no time."

"Yay!" she squeled excitedly, ready to attempt the handstand. Falling down, Edea became discouraged like all kids do when they can't do something right the first time. "I can't do it," she whined.

"You got to keep practicing," the older girl encouraged her "niece" telling her to put her hands on the ground, and then picking up her feet, allowing the little one to walk on her hands. Edward thought it was a good idea to distract the young child so she would not worry about her mother. Deep down though, Edward was uncertain about Faye's condition, but felt that Faye could get through anything.

Setting the young girl down, Edward started another handstand and taunted Edea to chase her while she "ran" on her hands; both having a good laugh in the process.

--

Jet went back to the kitchen and threw out the settled cooking that was left out. It has only half cooked, but left out so it was no good. Attepting to retry breakfast, Jet wondered what had happened during the four years that could drive Faye to just lose it. He knew Faye was not crazy, but seemed to have had too much bottled up to the point of causing her to become ill.

Overtime, Jet has come to care about his crew. It was a soft side of his he had come to accept. Though displaying a gruff interior, he would help any one of his crew members if they needed backup. Jet had also, looked very much like he had in the time of four years. Whatever had been left of his Jet Black(lol pun) hair, was still there. Parts of his robotic self were still part of him. The only change was of his clothes. He was relaxed in casual slacks and loose t-shirts.

"The only one who could change her is him..." he thought.

--

Spike had gone to his secluded part of the ship where he would practice his martial arts. Only the light of the stars shown, but was not an issue because Spike only concentrated on his attacks. Only today were thoughts clouding his concentration. After about two half-assed kicks, Spike gave up and sat against the wall.

"If only she would have f come back, I would not have shot her!" he thought bitterly to himself standing up and looking out into deep space. Wouldn't he have spotted her somewhere at all during the past four years. After all, its not like she was just an ordinary face in the crowd. He always knew she was one in a million, but could not see it for he was always pursuing the past, the life that was there but not the present he could touch.

"F THE PAST!" yelled Spike, punching a hole into the wall, not feeling the pain as his hand started bleeding.

--

Later on that day, Spike entered the room slyly and took a seat at the edge of the bed. Faye looked so calm, sleeping so peacefully. Four years had passed since they had last seen each other. Neither had changed all that much although Faye had long hair. Spike was still his normal self. He knew Faye had no idea on how he was alive to this day, but decided he would tell her when she resumed her "normal" state. Little Edea was off on the Bebop somewhere probally playing with Edward. Maybe she actually was his child; they did have similiar eyes after all, and not many people had that color eye. One night... one night was all they spent together.

(four years ago)

"You are such an ass!" yelled Faye, throwing the closest thing in the room, which was one of Jet's books. In the course of anger, she wasn't looking for an object to throw, but just picked up the nearest object and threw it. She wanted him to feel pain due to there was so much anger inside of her. Why does he have to always bring her up, especially in arguements.

Sometimes Faye and Spike would get along so well one each other they would become close. Often it ended with Spike bringing up Julia or telling her that he could not be with her because "she was no Julia." It seemed like an awful thing to tell someone, but then again it was Spike she was talking to, and he wasn't exactly the perfect gentlemen. True, she had grown to feel a sort of affection towards him, but was so turned off when he brought up his past relationships.

There were times though when they were sitting around, just the two of them watching TV and Faye would lay down next to Spike on the couch and he would put an arm around her. At first it freaked her out and caused her move away, but when she saw that he was not going to do anything, she stayed there. Sometimes she would even put her head on his shoulder and he would wrap his arms around her. Once, Faye was sleeping on Spike's shoulder, snoring very softly and Spike unconciously muttered 'Julia' and Faye must have been a very light sleeper for she shot up instantly and yelled, "What?!"

"Shit," replied Spike coherently.

"Why the would you call me Julia?!" demanded Faye, now standing up.

Being his cocky self, he simply stated, "Your no Julia."

"You are such an ass!" yelled Faye, throwing the closest thing in the room, which was one of Jet's books.

Just as Spike was caught up in his reverie, he did not notice Faye stirring.

"Spike," mumbled Faye weakly.

"Huh," uttered Spike coming out of his daydream.

"What are you doing in here?"

"You freaked out before and tried to shoot me." Spike told nonchalantly.

"I did?" questioned Faye confused, putting her unwounded arm over her eyes. She must've not remembered due to her altered state and illness.

"Well you were dillusional and sick so you just started shooting," told Spike, standing up and leaning against the wall, about to light up a cigarette...

"Don't even! I quit four years ago and I don't need to smell that s!" Spike put away his lighter and cigarette, then sat back down, closer to Faye.

Out of the silence, Faye brought up, "Remember that night..."

"I can't forget..."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ohhhh, your finally going to find out what happened that night four years ago... next time.


	7. Memories

Wow! I can't believe the amount of people reading my stories, but no one is reviewing... C'mon people show some love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here I am with another chapter!

--

(four years ago)

The night was calm and quite. The Bebop was actually on the up side; bounties were plentiful and there was more than enough money for food and even some to spend to their wishing. Jet and Ed were out buying everything they need for the ship, so that left Spike and Faye alone, which wasn't all that bad considering they weren't fighting. Faye was laying on the couch lazily flipping through the channels in the dark room. The glare of the TV, the only light in the room showed Fayed dressed for just the lazy occasion; sweat pants and a black tank top. All wasn't dull though, for Faye had a bottle of Sapphire, a popular vodka on Mars at hand.

Spike entered the room and seeing Faye on the couch, purposely sat on her back. He also looked casual, clad in a pair of boxer shorts and a muscle shirt.

"Do you mind luckhead!" yelled Faye setting her bottle down and trying to push the lanky man off of her.

"What are you drinking?" he questioned still sitting on her.

Getting annoyed, Faye rolled off the couch, landing on the floor while Spike just fell onto the couch. Spike then spraweled out and sighed.

"Your an ass," she muttered before picking up her bottle, but all spike did was position himself to the inner part of the couch, leaving some space and patting the area. Faye simply took it as invite and laid down next to him taking another sip from her bottle and then passing it to him. He in turn, took a long gulp and placed the bottle on the floor. Faye continued watching TV, not paying any attention to Spike until he wrapped his arms around her, only she snuggled more closer to him and they watched TV together occasionally drinking the Sapphire until all the contents were empty. The TV blared show soap opera with a woman having to choose between two men and having a hard time trying to choose one.

Spike wasn't really into the soap opera, but was simply enjoying his alone time with Faye. Leaning his head into the crook of her neck, he gave it a small kiss while taking in the fragrance of her hair. Faye flinched a bit but then smiled and turned so she was face to face with Spike.

"What would you do now if I tried to kiss you?" questioned Spike playfully.

"I don't know, we'll just have to see," she replied just as playfully. Spike tilted her chin and captured her lips in a passionate kiss; she did not pull away, but embraced it. After a little bit, they broke apart gasping for breath.

"What about Julia?" questioned Faye as Spike trailed kisses down her neck.

"Whos she?" sighed Spike as she continued.

"Lets take this to my room," moaned Faye. Spike picked her up and headed to her room, the TV still blaring forgotten...

--

"Do you regret it?" Faye questioned Spike as he took in the story that stuck in his mind since it had happened.

"No," Spike answered. "Shes mine?"

"Yes," replied Faye, "She has your eyes and is four years old.

"Damn," was all Spike could say, running a hand through his hair. He had a kid now; he created a human life and had not known it for four years. Was he ready to step up and take responsibility now?

"Did you love her?"

"What?"

"When I asked you that night about Julia, did you love her?"

"No. I thought I did, but I was just seeing the present and not looking at the present." Spike told as his past flashed before his eyes. All the times he thought of Julia, when he saw the past, all the searching, it was for nothing.

"Then why'd you go looking for her?" That question sure caught him off guard. What was he supposed to tell her? It was true that he went to find her, but for what?

"I needed closure," he replied, looking at the door, focusing on the bullet hole.

"It really hurt!" growled Faye. All the pain she felt when he left came flooding back; all the tears, the agony, her leaving. The only thing she did not regret was having Edea.

"I realize now that the past is s!"

"Help me," asked Faye desprately.

"Huh?"

"I don't want to live like this!" yelled Faye. Spike sat right next to her and put his arm around her and vowed he would do what it took to save his family. His family... this was something new to him. Grabbing his hand, she laced her fingers with his and laid her head on his shoulder finally trusting Spike after a long time.

--

--

"So Faye-Faye have you met anyone since we were last together?" questioned Edward finishing putting on lavender nail polish on Faye's first toe. Some things never change. Edward had gotten a few bottles of nail polish, and seeing Faye lounging on the couch, her legs crossed, bare feet fidgeting slightly, so she just started painting her toe nails without even asking. Faye didn't mind though, she remembered when Edward did it a while ago and just didn't mind anymore.

Faye's foot flinched feeling the sensation of something touching her foot, but then looked down and found Edward painting her nails, so she just smiled.

"Well, there was one time when I was staying with this woman who looked like she could be someones grandmother," Faye began.

(Three years ago)

A woman and what appeared to be a small child were huddled together on a park bench at a community park on Earch. Colorful arrays of leaves floated among the ground and fell off trees on occasion. The two shivered together in total sadness. Faye Valentine had just left yet another one the places she was living; she couldn't even get to her ship which was located in the woods about 2 miles away from the park. The two were staying in an abandoned cabin, which wasn't in bad condition at all. The place looked like one huge livingroom with a sofa, a long coffee table and a TV. There was a bearskin rug right next to the table, but Faye quickly disposed of it, because she did not want to tramatize her daughter.

Comfortable living conditions never really stuck with Faye, for as quickly as they have became aquaint with the place, bounty hunters have found it. Kind of hard to realize that they could've tracked her down from the middle of nowhere. Anyway, she took out her gun, shot each bounty hunter quickly, grabbed her bag and ran, ran as fast as she could, daughter in her arms, no destination in mind.

Finally, the morning sun had risen over the trees and Faye had found herself at a park, far from her old home. Catching her breath, she walked over to the closest bench and sat down, her legs feeling very shakey. Then she adjusted the blanket her daughter was wrapped in, so it covered her now sleeping form, so it was partly covering herself too. The autumn breeze chilled her to the bone because she forgot her coat at the cabin, but was thankful she dressed her daughter warmly for bedtime.

"What am I going to do?" she wondered aloud to no one in particular. After a while, Faye noticed that the morning was brightening, but there was an awful chill that caused the park to be empty, except for one person. Faye noticed as she looked around, a woman was over by the pond feeding the ducks. Maybe she would be able to help them out, Faye thought as she saw the duccks stand right under her feet and quack happily as she fed them pieces of her bagel. The woman looked to be in her late 50s with gray streaked dirty blonde to almost brown hair. She was clad in a beige winter coat and black shoes.

What if the lady thought Faye was one of those "houligans" who thought she would mug her or hurt her? Well, there was no time like the present to find out.

"Excuse me!" yelled Faye over to the woman. The older woman did not jump scared, but just turned around realizing that she too was not alone in the park.

"Hello sweety, what brings you to-- oh, is that a child you have?" said the woman gently as she sat next to Faye. Looking at Faye's eyes, she could see the pain Faye felt.

"This is my daughter Edea," told Faye. It seemed kind of odd, but Faye felt like she could trust this woman.

"You've been through a lot," the woman told, "I can see it in your eyes. Its not common to see mothers here in the early hours, especially when it is this cold."

"I have no place to go," mumbled Faye looking down at her daughter who seemed to curl up more against her mom.

"If you can trust me, you can come live with me. My children are all grown up and out the house," the woman offered.

"Your offering me all of this and you don't even know me?" questioned Faye, afterward realizing she just "opened mouth and inserted foot."

"Oh? And just where are my manners? My name is Ann Magdulen, but you can just call me Grandma." Faye chuckled at the last part. Who would want people to call them their grandparent; isn't it the point to appear younger? A grandma seems like the nurturing type, and maybe this lady would afterall help her.

"I'm Fa-- Mariah Jet," Faye stuttered.

"Faye Valentine," revealed Grandma. Faye had a look of shock.

--

"Ooo, she knew you were Faye-Faye," chimed in Edward, who had just finished painting Fayes toenails; a variety of lavender, soft blue, petal pink and white.

"She watched Big Shot, but did not care for bounties, it was just entertainment for her. She took me and Edea into a warm and safe environment and it was actually pretty nurturing. Grandma offered us a lot of money to live on, but I couldn't take it so she put it in a pink pouch if I ever needed it."

"Why did you leave grandma?" wondered Edward in awe as she started painting her own toes.

"Well...one day, Edea and I returned home from doing her grocery shopping when I went into the bedroom and found grandma had passed away. It was very heartbreaking. Seeing I couldn't stay when the family came, I covered her up, took the money, and left without showing Edea; making up a lie that Grandma had to go live with relatives," told Faye.

"Aww, thats so sad," replied Edea in awe.

"I went to get my ship afterwards. The beautiful purple and pink blanket on my bed was made by her; crocheted. She tried to teach me, but I was so bad at it. I'm glad she cared about a total stranger."

Little Edea had been sleeping and not seen her mother since she was sick. Hopefully, she will not be scared when she sees her again.

After a while, Edea came into the livingroom and ran to her mom and hugged her, glad to see her mother alright.

"Edward, I am going to take my bounty off, but I'm going to need your help," requested Faye, placing the young child on her lap.

"Whats the plan?" gleamed Edward walking on her hands, waving her feet around so the polish can dry and entertaining Edea in the process.

--


	8. chances

"Hey Jet!" chimed Edward one evening (at least that's what the clock said), doing a handstand on the yellow couch's arm and then flipping onto its cushion. Jet was at the other end of the couch, reading a newspaper from Earth and had to sway a bit to the right to narrowly miss the young woman's foot from side-swiping him.

"What is it?" Jet wondered, now giving her his attention.

"I was wondering, what if Ed went to retrieve all of Faye-Faye's belongings from all the places that Faye-Faye used to live?" Edward suggested and then rolling back to the couch's arm and doing another handstand.

"Did she put you up to this?" questioned Jet, folding the newspaper up and setting it onto the table in the middle of the room.

"No," Edward replied, facing Jet, now standing. "Ed thought it would be a nice surprise for Faye-Faye to have all her things, that's all."

"Alright, but if you destroy your ship again, you're paying to have it repaired," told Jet.

"Yes sir," saluted Edward saluting like a soldier and walking out of the room.

Edward had her own ship now. Since she had been so helpful at helping the crew catch so many bounties when she returned, Jet decided that she should have her own ship. When she turned sixteen, the two of them went and purchased her one. Of all the ships in the place, Ed chose a black and navy blue ship similar to the one Spike had and named it the Einator. After crashing it on Earth a few months ago, Jet finally had it repaired (there was considerable damage, though luckily Edward only had a few scratches) he limited her use of it for a while.

Edward went to find "Faye-Faye" in order to find the places in which she had lived in the past, but also to see if she would come, though disguised, with her. Jet was not to know this of course because he would not allow this, but Faye needed to get some fresh air; she'd been cooped up in the ship for about a week now. Upon entering Faye's room, she found the young woman taking a nap with her daughter asleep at her side, a colorful book with large pictures of talking cats lay forgotten. Edward crept over to Faye and shook her lightly. Immediately, Faye's eyes shot open with a look of concern.

"Sorry," whispered Edward. "Didn't mean to startle you, but I was wondering…" she trailed off for a moment before continuing. "How would you like to go with Ed and collect all the stuff you left behind?"

The look on Faye's face gave off the impression of shock and excitement. Was she serious? Would Edward actually risk going out in public with someone at the top of everyone's bounty list? What did Spike and Jet think of the situation? It did not matter. She was able to hold her own for four years without anyone before, so why should now be any different.

"Let's go!" told Faye firmly, standing up, being careful to not move her daughter.

"What about Edea?" questioned Edward, looking at the sleeping child.

"We'll only be out for a short while right?" Ed nodded. "Edea will stay asleep until we come back, I'm sure," Faye retorted, a hint of hesitance in her voice, yet a small bout of reassurance in the back of her mind. She had Jet and Spike there too, if she needed someone, right? Faye thought the Bebop was a safe place for her child to be at the moment and silently promised she would be back very soon.

Ed threw on a red hoodie about two sizes too big. Borrowing a baggy, dark lavender jacket from Edward with a large hood to conceal her face, Faye grabbed her gun and the pair crept silently to Edward's ship. Spike did not seem to be around and Jet must've been in his room or somewhere on the other side of the ship.

Once the duo was on the ship, Edward told Faye about her ship and of the little "mishap" on Earth. Faye noticed a small, golden cushioned seat on the left side of the ship and guessed Ein accompanied her when she traveled. The dog did not look any older than the last time she saw him, although he looked a little heavier. The last time she saw Ein, he was sitting in the corner of the living area, as depressed as the crew members.

"Where's the first stop?!" chirped Edward, pointing her finger into the air, ready to go.

"Our first stop is a small spot on Earth," told Faye as she gave the coordinates for "Grandma's" house.

The duo landed in a snowy field surrounded by many thick winter-bare trees, hunched over with the weight of snow and ice on them. Ed opened a hidden compartment and took out a pistol similar to Jets and placed it inside the pocket of her oversized hoodie. Faye looked oddly at Ed because she had never seen her use a weapon. Noticing her stare, Edward just smiled and told her it was, "just in case." The smile was forced and Faye saw that, but did not question, knowing the uncertainties around them.

A few homes littered the area, widely spaced apart, all giving off the appearance of wood cabins. No one seemed to be around and the evening air chilled one to the bone. Neither dressed for the occasion, but did not seem to mind, for they were making quick stops. One cabin stuck out from the rest; it had no lights on, no shoveled path in front of it, and seemed to have been vacant for a while.

Faye replaced her hood to conceal her face and they made their way to the cabin. The door was thankfully open, so they made their way inside. Since it was evening, the dimming light still provided a little illumination so the home wasn't pitch black. Creeping quietly, Faye and Edward made sure no one was in the home. Once sure it was clear, the duo relaxed and looked around. It appeared the same way as Faye described it, only dustier. The room looked lived in; as if its owner was out for a while.

"Wonder why no one cleared out the house since she died?" Faye questioned, picking up a photo on the living room table, revealing grandma, two adults and five small children.

"So that is grandma?" questioned Edward, also looking at the small, framed photo. Faye nodded. "Are you going to take that?"

"No one else has taken it, so I'm going to," smiled Faye as she held the photo and continued to look around. Inside the kitchen, moldy bread sat on the counter, rotten fruit sat in a bowl on the kitchen table and a short stack of letters lay toppled over. There wasn't anything meaningful in that room, so the only room left was the bedroom.

Inside the bedroom, the top of the dresser was bare, except for a small layer of dust around a clean area in the shape of a square.

"They must've taken her jewelry," Faye told Edward. "She had a nice collection, too. Much of it was passed down to her for a few generations. Well, I guess we better get going," she suggested, taking one last look around the place. As they made their way out, Edward saw a door in the corner of the kitchen and opened it to reveal a small bathroom.

"How could anyone even fit- oh whets this?" Edward questioned, picking up a gold necklace with an aquamarine pendent on it. "This is nice!" she exclaimed, admiring the piece.

"She lost it one day and never found it." Ed handed her the necklace and she put it on, hiding it underneath the hoodie.

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After hitting a few more spots, Faye retrieved a pistol, a small sum of money, some of Edea and her clothes, a teddy bear of Edea's and a few photos, there was only one more place to visit before they went back to the ship. Many other possessions were stolen.

Faye became hesitant when Edward landed her ship in the junkyard near Blue Storm Nights on Mars. Memories of the fatal night flashed dangerously and shook her, for she started trembling slightly.

"Faye-Faye, what's wrong?" asked the worried hacker, feeling Faye tremble and noticing the color draining from her face. "We do not have to stop here if you don't feel up to it!" Ed suggested, never seeing this side of her "sister" before. It was alarming and they were not going to stick around if she was feeling that way.

The purple-haired woman took a deep breath before announcing, "I'm fine. We need to stop here because I left a bag of documents under one of the floorboards."

"What kind of papers?"

"Bounties I've caught, Edea's birth certificate, my wanted posters," Faye ticked off, trying to hide her fear. "Let's just get this over with; I want to go back to Edea." For the last time, Faye and Edward concealed their faces with their hoods and headed into the apartment building.

For the second time that day, the home they entered was empty, but this apartment had been cleared out. The landlord must've noticed the tenants were not living there anymore and cleared out the place and putting it up for rent. Luckily for Faye, she did not have any possessions worth keeping, out in the apartment.

When Faye retrieved the bag, she grabbed Edward's wrist and steered her to the entrance of the apartment, a strong atrocious feeling in her gut leading the way.

"I knew you'd return, Faye Valentine," chimed a silky voice around the corner of the building. The owner of the voice was not seen, but recognized as one of the men she faced, the night she was shot. Immediately, Faye took out her gun, but Edward was hesitant. When the man came out from behind the corner, he was revealed to be a tall man with jet black hair and piercing onyx eyes. He wore a long, black trench coat and boots. She did not have a clear memory of the other assailants, but remembered his appearance well.

"LET'S GO!" Faye yelled as she tightened her grip on Edward's wrist as the two of them ran for the ship, leaving the door wide open. Two shots hit the wall seconds from hitting Edward, bringing the angry side of Edward out, for she took out her gun now. They rounded the corner too quickly to notice a jagged, rusted piece of metal sticking out of the decrepit walls and Edward caught her arm on it, cutting the hoodie and her upper right arm. With a deep breath, Edward shakily put up her weapon and fired two shots at their assailant's feet. A curse was heard and Edward took it as a hit, but neither stopped to look. They made it to the ship and took off immediately.

"Ed killed him, Ed killed him!" the young woman moaned, sending her ship at top speed toward the sky.

"Let's just be glad there was only one of them in there," Faye sighed, covering her face in her hands. "You did not kill him, probably just shot him in the foot or something," Faye tried to reassure, opening her bag, not sure herself of the condition of the man. "Are you alright?"

"Ed'll be alright, it's just a scratch."

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The clock on the wall of the Bebop told them it was 1:03 A.M. Jet and Spike weren't around and there wasn't a word to tell if Edea was awake. All lights were off. Seeing as no one was up, Faye decided she would creep quietly to her room and deal with the situation, if there was any, in the morning. Edward decided to check her Tomato to see updates on bounties and all.

Faye opened the door to her room quietly and noticed a tall figure sitting on her bed, Edea curled up at his side.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?"


	9. Preparation

'I didn't know what the time was, but hell; I didn't have a schedule to follow, so it didn't really matter. I was just comfortable and didn't want to get up.' Heaving a warm sigh, Faye rolled over to her side and notice the scent on the pillow was familiar…his scent.

Opening her eyes, Faye looked around and seeing she was in the bed that was not hers, remembers back to the previous night. Only, he was not here now.

'Wouldn't expect him to linger here,' Faye thought, not distraught, but wondering how the conversation would have gone had she awaken and he was right beside her or in his arms. If he was asleep, she surmised, she would've probably did the same. Figuring there was nothing left to think about and feeling she was overstaying her welcome in his room, she got up, dressed and left to shower.

"You have a death wish, don't you?" Spike growled in a harsh whisper, not moving for it would disturb his daughter.

"What if I do?" Faye replied, stone serious as she sat on the bed and tucked the blanket more around Edea and took the dinosaur book off the bed and placed it onto the nightstand. Spike watched her, unsure of what to say. What could he say?

"We all know what is going to happen in the end. I do not want to put my daughter's life in danger. She deserves so much better than what she's had to go through. If I—"

"Don't even go there!" Spike interrupted, disgusted and horrified at where this was heading. "What do you want me to say, your mother went and got herself killed, because she just gave up on—"

"I will never give up on my daughter! I just don't want her to be killed in another attempt to escape in this wretched life!"

"She's going to need a mother!" As Spike was arguing back, a little louder than necessary, Edea stirred.

"Hi mommy," Edea stirred with a small yawn and sat up.

"Edea, I want to talk to you," Faye replied, lifting the small girl into her arms and embracing her. It took a minute for her to formulate what she was going to say.

"He is your dad," she started, pointing at Spike, who could only watch as his child was cradled by her mother, with much affection. He somehow felt he wanted to be a part of the scene, as if everything had just changed. He waited to see where the conversation was going.

"How come I only seen him in the picture?" Edea questioned, looking at her mom.

"Because momma and you father had to go away for a while, but we are here now for you and never forget that," she continued, never letting go. Spike surmised that since she was promising her presence for her child, she would not go off and do something stupid. He stayed silent and let them continue their moment.

"Your father will never let anything happen to you. He's gonna make sure no one ever hurts you," she kept on, a heavy gloom in her voice. Tension flared as Spike's positive speculation turned into utter disaster as though Faye was literally telling Edea, Spike was going to have to care for her because she was going to get killed.

"What are you sa—" Spike was interrupted as Edea climbed out of Faye's arms and right into Spike's. Surprise overtook him, but he quickly stifled it and gingerly wrapped his arms around the small child. Regardless of anything, Edea was going to need her father.

"I love you daddy," she told her dad, with a small smile.

"I love you too kiddo," Spike responded back, his eyes never leaving Faye's.

"Momma's gonna go do a little work with Edward. Why don't you read to daddy," Faye suggested, not looking at Spike.

"Ok," Edea said as she picked up a book lying on the floor on the other side of the bed. This book had a picture of a cat rolling around with another cat, playing with it. Edea placed the book so that the two of them could see it. Spike was staring at her, but she kept her gazed averted as she left the room.

Faye then remembered that Edward had sustained an injury when they went on the now-regretted field trip. She had never seen Edward hold a gun, let alone shoot one off and wondered if the trauma she now had on her conscious was her fault. There would be no way to know if the man had obtained a blow or if the three shots were missed. Had Ed known there would be danger associated with being with her? It was her idea, but Faye knew she could have said no or went herself. Edward never found herself in trouble or a situation she couldn't handle or get herself out of and would now have a few scars.

Faye felt heavy guilt for allowing this to happen. As she entered the living area, she saw Edward in her corner, on her computer typing away. She wore a loose fitting, long sleeved shirt that she wouldn't have normally worn. Faye hoped to God it was the chill in the room and not to keep her injury from jet.

"Edward?" Faye began as she stood in the doorway. Edward continued to type, but looked in her direction as if to finish a thought. "Are you alright?" she questioned, walking over to the hacker and sitting on the couch right behind her.

"Ed's fine," Edward told her, typing away, yet looking at Faye. "Ed patched herself up and just wants to forget about it. Just don't tell Jet."

"I won't," Faye sulked, looking away. A heavy sinking feeling told her Edward was trying to keep this from Jet. Maybe she wanted to cover for both of them, wondering what or if Spike would say anything to Jet. "I'm so sorry."

"It was Ed's idea. By the way, Ed found information on the man at your old apartment. Names Zander Hrolasz. There is a 6,000,000 bounty on him. Says he is known to catch bounties to pull himself out of the hole. Maybe he thinks he can catch enough bounties to get rid of the one on his head.

Faye lounged on the couch and put her feet up. "Wish it was that easy. I'd catch more than enough bounties to clear mine right up." All was silent. Suddenly, Fay sat up slightly. "Do you think?"

"Ed's on the case!" Edward chimed as she rolled over and stood on her hands, a tactic she pulled when she was excited.

"Do you think you can pull up some information on that and of Bounties who have actually gotten away with it?" she questioned, liking the sudden hope.

"Can Ed do it? Yes, she can!" Edward sang as she typed a bit with her toes. Hearing that line before, Faye looked at Edward.

Noticing the look, Edward rang, "Edward's been watching old Earth cartoons with Edea and they have messed with Ed's head." She then sank back into an upright position and swayed side to side as if to be in a trance.

"Tell me about it," Faye mumbled as she went to shower.

As Spike completed his back spin kick with a left knee, he heard the door creak open. Not seeing anyone in his peripheral, he figured it just creaked open on its own and continued his martial arts moves until he saw Edea near the door. She was attempting the spin kick he had just completed. It wasn't bad either. When she noticed he was watching her, she stopped.

"Not bad," Spike chimed positively.

"Watch this!" she commanded, doing a small front kick and then followed it with a back kick.

"Where did you learn that?" Spike questioned.

"I saw it from TV and I tried it," Edea said innocently.

"I've been training like this for many years," he told his daughter.

"Can you teach me?"

"I think I can."

"Wait! I want to show you something else," little Edea commanded as she walked into the room, took a moment and then bent forward, putting her hands on the floor and pushing off. The handstand lasted a little more than two seconds and she fell forward, landing on her back.

"I see Ed has been teaching you," Spike said as he walked over to her.

Thus began the first lesson.


End file.
